Every three days, the Government travels to promote Sweden

The Government’s aim is to increase exports. As part of these efforts, a new export strategy for Sweden has been drawn up

The Government launched Sweden's export strategy in late September. The 26 countries regarded to have particular priority include several important growth markets such as Japan, Brazil, South Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia. In total, SEK 800 million will strengthen Swedish exports over five years.

Export promotion is a matter that concerns the whole Government and in principle all ministers are or have been involved in promotion activities. To date, the ministers have conducted a total 129 international visits to 44 countries for the purpose of business promotion. Ministers have visited nearly all of the 26 prioritised countries. There are currently a further 48 visits to 36 countries in the pipeline.

"Major enterprises may need help with political contacts at the highest level, or else they manage on their own. However, the proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises engaging in exports is currently too low, and that is where I believe the export strategy is an important tool. We are investing in regional export centres that can help enterprises start exporting," says Minister for Enterprise and Innovation Mikael Damberg.

Mr Damberg also sees great potential in foreign-born Swedes with their language skills and knowledge of other countries' cultures. For this reason, SEK 20 million extra will be invested to make use of newly arrived immigrants' contact networks to open doors to new markets.